Such language

[Somber]

Amber was debating why can't we all use the same word for new things that come out.  As some one who has studied lingustics (against my will, stupid degree requirements) I can tell you that it's a lot harder than that.  For starters, not all languages use the same sounds as others.  Asian, Arabic, and African languages in particular incorporate sounds that just aren't found in european languages.  Secondly, not all languages use the same alphabets.  Russian, Arabic, and Asian iconographs use letters and lack letters commonly employed in european languages.  Thirdly, different languages use different syntatic builds that often don't have exact parallels to european ones.  Heck, any one who has studied english and french knows how you get dinged if you put the adjective before the modified term in french... unless it's a person.  Then it goes before like in english.

See?

That's just the linguistic side of things.  Throw in nationalism, religion, and ethnic considerations and it becomes even harder for one word to be used by everyone.  Do you really think that Iranians would be quick to adopt a word used by Americans?  Probably not.

However, there are two things working in favor of english taking over the world.   The first is english's complete lack of inflection.  See these words?  There's not a single inflection marker above them.  That's because the english you write in America is the same english written in england is the same english written in australia.   The spelling and word usage might differ quite a bit, but the underlying written language is the same.  This makes english an imposing institutional language.  Secondly, english itself is an astonishingly flexible language.  It can take a lot of butchery and still make sense to another reader.  Misspellings.  Poor syntax and grammar.  Made up words.  English readers can take them all like a linguistic SUV.  And we can make up words as easy as farting.  'Blogger.'  Who made up this word?  Doesn't matter.  Once enough english speakers knew it and what it more or less meant then it could be used as any established and time tested word.  "Blogger."  "Blogging"  "Bloggish."  "Blogishness."

Incidently...  this makes english an absolute nightmare for non-native speakers to learn.

[Dannysaysnoo]

Why aren't people making more of an effort to learn English? admittedly there are those in my school who are Polish. I enjoy their company mainly because its good to hear giggling all the time. I know those who put in genuine effort to learn and i can have conversations with them with only minor corrections, but some never bother.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Why aren't you making an effort to learn mandarin, danny?

[Dannysaysnoo]

Because it's not as spread a language as English is.

[Tezkat]

Amber was debating why can't we all use the same word for new things that come out.  As some one who has studied lingustics (against my will, stupid degree requirements) I can tell you that it's a lot harder than that.  For starters, not all languages use the same sounds as others.  Asian, Arabic, and African languages in particular incorporate sounds that just aren't found in european languages.  Secondly, not all languages use the same alphabets.  Russian, Arabic, and Asian iconographs use letters and lack letters commonly employed in european languages.  Thirdly, different languages use different syntatic builds that often don't have exact parallels to european ones.  Heck, any one who has studied english and french knows how you get dinged if you put the adjective before the modified term in french... unless it's a person.  Then it goes before like in english.

Heh... I studied linguistics despite it being unnecessary for my degrees, but I concur that exporting new words isn't always (or even usually) a simple matter--even for proper names.

For instance, Chinese lacks a phonetic script for use in day-to-day communications. Thus, each syllable will have inherent meaning when transcribed. Sometimes that works out well. Sometimes it doesn't. The official Mandarin transliteration of "Coca-Cola" (可口可乐) is actually quite clever (roughly translating as "to allow happiness in the mouth"), but the sounds could easily have meant something involving horses and wax.

Foreign languages do import English terms all the time--sometimes butchering them beyond recognition. One of my Japanese conversation partners found it amusing that I was constantly asking for the meaning of English import words she used (e.g. sekuhara--"sexual harassment").

Because it's not as spread a language as English is.

There are far more native speakers of Mandarin than there are of English, and there are well over a billion Chinese speakers spread throughout nearly every country on the globe. Unfamiliarity with the language can be a competitive disadvantage in a number of sectors.

Besides, multilingualism is good for your brain.

[Dannysaysnoo]

Besides, multilingualism is good for your brain.

Urgh, they expect me to learn French, even though its completely pointless, I'm never gonna go to France, or parts of Canada. I would like to learn Polish, as the percentage of Polish students in my school has increased exceptionally.

[Sofox]

Besides, multilingualism is good for your brain.

Urgh, they expect me to learn French, even though its completely pointless, I'm never gonna go to France, or parts of Canada. I would like to learn Polish, as the percentage of Polish students in my school has increased exceptionally.

Hey, there are some good French movies out there, and subbing, dubbing or remaking never compares.

[Dannysaysnoo]

Besides, multilingualism is good for your brain.

Urgh, they expect me to learn French, even though its completely pointless, I'm never gonna go to France, or parts of Canada. I would like to learn Polish, as the percentage of Polish students in my school has increased exceptionally.

Hey, there are some good French movies out there, and subbing, dubbing or remaking never compares.

There are good japanese ones too, but i aint gonna spend 20 or so years learning just to watch Akira undubbed.

[Netrogo]

Because it's not as spread a language as English is.

For some reason this line reminds me of a joke I heard.

A man from the US is on vacation, he flies to France and while debording the clerk asks 'Are you a foreiner?' To this the American replies 'Certainly not! I'm from the good old US of A.'

Just because you mostly see people who speak your language in your area, doesn't meant that the rest of the world is speaking it. Tezkat's right too, there are far more people around the world who speak Mandarin then there are that speak English. So if everyone's going to learn one language, it should be that. Not English.

[Dannysaysnoo]

For some reason this line reminds me of a joke I heard.

A man from the US is on vacation, he flies to France and while debording the clerk asks 'Are you a foreiner?' To this the American replies 'Certainly not! I'm from the good old US of A.'

Haha, dumb Americans.

Just because you mostly see people who speak your language in your area, doesn't meant that the rest of the world is speaking it. Tezkat's right too, there are far more people around the world who speak Mandarin then there are that speak English. So if everyone's going to learn one language, it should be that. Not English.

There may be more people speaking Mandarin, but most of those people probably speak English as well, its a common Second Language. I'm not saying all places should speak the same languages allways, just that there should be more emphasis on teaching languages at younger ages.

[Zina]

There may be more people speaking Mandarin, but most of those people probably speak English as well, its a common Second Language. I'm not saying all places should speak the same languages allways, just that there should be more emphasis on teaching languages at younger ages.

In a lot of places, that is the case. I know several people from different countries that speak English better than me.
However, I don't think people should "make more of an effort" to learn English. They're probably thinking the same thing you are, "I'm not going to America/England/Australia/where ever, why should I have to learn English?".
English is an incredibly difficult language to learn to begin with. Telling others to learn it isn't exactly fair if you don't want to learn the second language in your area. 

[Paul]

There may be more people speaking Mandarin, but most of those people probably speak English as well,

Um, no they don't. English is not a very widespread language in China. Incidentally, Mandarin is by far the most widely spoken language on Earth. Depending on how you count, English, Hindi or Spanish would come in second place - each with only half as many speakers as Mandarin.

English is widely learned as a second (or usually third or fourth) language in Europe, but that doesn't mean it's useful everywhere. In many countries, you'd be better served speaking Spanish, French, Russian or Arabic, whic are all big international communications languages.

Moral of the story: there's nothing pointless about learning languages. In fact, the more the better.

[Dannysaysnoo]

Actual moral of the story - why aren't more personal translators in employment?

[Zina]

Actual moral of the story - why aren't more personal translators in employment?

What are you talking about? Translators are in demand in companies that do a lot of business overseas. If you're talking about a personal translator for each individual person, you realize what a ridiculous notion that is. Not everyone has the money for that.
A lot of people have little computer translators, though. They're expensive, but very handy.

[Dannysaysnoo]

I love those adverts for 'Learn (X Y Z) in half an hour for only tup-pence!' ect.

[rabid_fox]

As an English teacher I'd like to say that

[Naldru]

Actual moral of the story - why aren't more personal translators in employment?

What are you talking about? Translators are in demand in companies that do a lot of business overseas. If you're talking about a personal translator for each individual person, you realize what a ridiculous notion that is. Not everyone has the money for that.
A lot of people have little computer translators, though. They're expensive, but very handy.

My experience is that the computerized translators such as Babelfish are good for determining if the article is of enough interest for you to go to a human translator.  Even the human translators mess up at times.  What you should look for is a translator who knows the subject matter and whose native language is the language the material is being translated into.

I still recall a translation of a French technical article that drove me crazy until I realized that the translator had used the word dish instead of plate.  (It may sound close, but you don't buy dish steel.)

[Zina]

Babelfish is crap. We all should know that by now.
I'm talking about little handheld computer translators and dictionaries that you can carry around with you. Pretty handy to have around when you're in a foreign country and need to look up a word or a translate a phrase, but expensive. My host mother had one and it was extremely helpful in avoiding any miscommunication(Fact: Elegance and Arrogance sound extremely similar, especially when said with a Japanese accent).

[BlueTiger]

For some reason this line reminds me of a joke I heard.

A man from the US is on vacation, he flies to France and while debording the clerk asks 'Are you a foreiner?' To this the American replies 'Certainly not! I'm from the good old US of A.'

Haha, dumb Americans.

Hey! I resmble that remark!

Wait... DOH!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

As an English teacher I'd like to say that

*snerk* Well said, my man, well said.

[Reese Tora]

Back to the point of the rant...

The problem is that a lot of new 'made up' words are actually mashups of preexisting words, or otherwise come from real words(web log => blog).  From an understanding point of view, it makes sense to use the base words from your own language to create your own mashup instead of using the mashup coined from a language that is not native to you.

Some words, there is no equivalent to the current meaning in other languages, and these are universal.

[Azraelle]

I'm pretty sure that an iPod is called an iPod in just about any language.  Though I don't personally speak Swahili, so I don't know that for absolute fact.

[James StarRunner]

How is this related to DMFA? This would be more suited to the Outer Fortress.

[AndersW]

Amber brought it up in her rant on Monday.

[Netrogo]

How is this related to DMFA? This would be more suited to the Outer Fortress.

How DARE you bring logic into this!!!

[Reaver225]

There may be more people speaking Mandarin, but most of those people probably speak English as well,

Um, no they don't.

I quote this statment as a testament to it's truthfulness.